Penny-Pile
by The Mechanical Flowershop
Summary: Penny-Pile: (Noun) 1. A dogpile centered on Penny 2. When multiple people pile on top of Penny with the intent of group cuddling. Likely to occur if Ruby is involved


The young blonde raises her hand to her mouth; a loud yawn startles her teammates.

"Brute, none of us want to be up. That doesn't mean you have to make it worse." The girl with snow white hair attempts to punch Yang in the arm, if only she had the strength.

"Please, finish me," Yang mutters begging for the sweet release of death.

"Only if you kill me, too."

"Deal." Yang and Weiss shake hands, preparing to leave this mortal coil.

"Oh come on guys, it's not that bad," a chipper voice interrupts the two friends.

"Not all of us are morning people, Ruby." The muscle of the team ruffles her little sister's hair as the four take their seats. The quiet one of the group looks down at the hidden book in her lap, probably erotica. Yang scans the auditorium looking at all the half-sleeping children and teachers. Ooblek is drinking more coffee than usual - if that's even possible. _Ozpin loves to make his announcements early._ Yang slumps into her chair like a snail.

A loud tapping booms through the walls of the room, annoying everyone minus Goodwitch.

"Good morning students and faculty alike. As you all know, the team dynamic of our school is what makes children into Hunters. Well, today we are beginning an experiment." Ozpin glances to the side as a small redheaded girl walks onto the stage. Ruby lets out a small squeal; her teammates elect to ignore this.

"This is Penny Polendina - she will be joining our school today. She will be the new member of team RWBY." Penny waves at the crowd, a small smile gracing her face.

A collective gasp sweeps through the auditorium as eyes sagging with exhaustion fly open wide and alert. Many of those eyes hone in on the four girls sitting dumbly as Penny continues to flap her hand at them. Murmurs of approval, disapproval, jealousy, and support trickle through the ranks of gathered students.

"Now, now. I know this comes as a surprise to you all, but the path to success is paved with innovation - even if it comes with its share of potholes. Believe it or not, early Huntsman teams consisted of three members. Where would we be now if we had not wondered: what merits would a team of four have?"

Ozpin pauses for dramatic effect and crosses both arms behind his back.

"So now, I ask again: what merits would a team of five have? It is difficult to challenge tradition, but we here at Beacon Academy thrive with adversity. I believe team RWBY will rise to this new challenge - they may even become the first stepping stone to a brand new tradition. What say you, team RWBY?"

Weiss is the first to come to her senses and elbows Ruby in the side. The leader jolts to attention to see Ozpin watching her steadily, waiting. It takes another prod and a whispered, "Say something," from Weiss for Ruby to realize that the headmaster - no, the entire assembly - is waiting for her to give some kind of speech on behalf of her team. Knees suddenly shaking, she jumps to her feet and nearly stumbles.

"Um, yes-"

Weiss clears her throat and yells under her breath, "Louder!" Ruby blushes and raises her volume to fill the large room.

"I mean, of course we'll accept this new member!" If possible, Penny's smile widens further, elevating Ruby's confidence. "Team RWBY is honored to be chosen for this… uh, honor. We'll do our best to accommodate Penn- _eeek!"_

Ruby takes a step forward without thinking and almost walks right off the front of the bleachers, realizing that perhaps sitting on the upper level was a poor decision. She wobbles for a moment, half of her body hanging over the drop, her arms flailing for balance. Just as she starts to tip, several things happen at once. Her teammates overcome their shock and start moving, but Yang is the quickest. Penny gasps on stage, the swish of blades moving through the air almost drowning her out. Yang reaches Ruby first, her fist catching the edge of her sister's cape and pulling it loose from its clips as Ruby tumbles out of reach. Several loud thumps accompany a collective cry as the students on the next level below duck down, covering their heads with their arms.

Ruby opens her eyes and realizes that her fall has been halted. In fact, she can see the students cowering below, her body somehow suspended above them. She gasps and tries to sit up, only to realize that she's balancing on four thin wires pulled taught. They're attached to the four blades impaled in the front of the upper bleachers and lead back to Penny, who strains to keep the makeshift safety net aloft.

After a moment of staring among the ooh's and aah's, Ruby regains enough composure to hop off her rescuer's wires, much to Penny's relief. After mouthing a quick thank you to Penny, blushing, Ruby continues her speech.

"A-as I was saying, we'll do our best to accommodate Penny and make sure she feels welcome here at Beacon! We thank you for this opportunity."

"Very well, Miss Rose, I look forward to promising results from all of you."

Still blushing, Ruby returns to her seat.

Clearing his throat, Ozpin continues, "One final order of business. As some of you may have noticed, late last night, the dorm building's heating gave out. It now needs to be replaced. While the replacement is underway however, we will be remedying this by providing each dorm room with a space heater."

Murmurs make their way across the gathered students like a wave.

"On your way out, one member of each team is to see Miss Goodwitch to pick up their room's heater. And remember, you are responsible for taking care of it. If it is broken or lost, you will not be getting another. That is all, you are dismissed."

Immediately, the auditorium fills with conversation as students begin to disperse. The grey-haired headmaster approaches his new transfer student.

"Miss Polendina, a word please," Ozpin states.

"Yes?" Penny inquires.

"I want to thank you for helping one of my students." He pauses, looking over his glasses at her. "However, in the future, please try and refrain from throwing around your weapons when not in a designated sparring field."

"Yes sir," she replies, standing up her straightest, at full attention.

"Now, go on and join your team."

"Yes sir!" Penny says excitedly, grinning wide.

* * *

"Before going over sleeping arrangements, we should get this heater set up." Ruby suggests.

"That sounds like a sensational idea!"

"Come on Penny, let's figure this thing out."

The two take charge and heft the box to the center of the room, carefully laying it on it's side. Sitting on the floor in front of it, they gently slide the box's contents out onto the floor.

"Need help with that sis?" Yang asks from her bunk.

"We got this, how complicated can it be? It's just a heater."

Thirty minutes later it still isn't done. The two girls stare at the abomination of a machine. Ruby had taken apart the thing, and reassembled it. _What are we missing?_ Ruby scratches her head, unsure of what to do.

Before the two can do anything, Blake walks over and plugs the thing in. The heater kicks to life after a few seconds, instantly heating the borderline frozen room. Ruby stares at the floor - her shame too great - realizing that all she needed to do was plug it in. Blake pats the girl's shoulder as she walks over to the light switch; darkness envelopes the room, a small streak of light from the broken moon the only thing keeping the dorm room from being pitch black. As the four say their goodnights they realize they had forgotten something important; where would Penny sleep?

"So... where's Little Miss Redhead sleeping?" Yang asks, worried she'd have to share her bed - she was a notorious bed hog.

"I'm team leader! Penny can sleep in my bed!" Ruby jumps up and down excitedly as she stares at the girl in question.

The three choose not to ask anything, grateful to still have their own beds. The five girls slink into their beds, wanting to sleep more so than usual. The team falls asleep quickly - well, most of them do.

"I can't believe that worked!" Ruby whispers, a slight squeal accompanying her words.

"What worked, girlfriend Ruby?" Penny wraps her arms around the smaller girl.

"I get to share a bed with my super beautifully gorgeous girlfriend, duh!" She snuggles into the robot's chest, intently listening to the ticking inside her; Ruby feels content hearing the inner workings of the girl she had grown rather close to. She still can't believe that they've been dating for two months now. Penny had told the girl about odd things she'd been feeling recently, inadvertently confessing to the very receptive girl. Ruby sighs happily at the memory she'd thought about every night before bed since.

"Do they not know?" Penny inquires.

"Not yet. I wanted you to be here when I told them."

"Why didn't we tell them when we came back here then, girlfriend Ruby?"

Ruby's eyes dart left to right, a guilty smile crossing her face. "I kinda wanted to make sure we could share a bed," she admits.

"Would they have been against it?"

"Probably not. Well, Weiss might, but that's just because she's fussy," Ruby chuckles before being interrupted.

"We're all still up, you dolt."

Ruby Rose freezes, realizing now that the light is currently on in their room. Yang had apparently needed to do a late night pee. _Damn my sister's weak bladder!_

Weiss glares at the girl above her. "And no I am not that mean. It's not like you're Yang. I know you're not going to do anything inappropriate, Dummy." Yang considers being offended before admitting to herself that Weiss is right.

Ruby smiles widely at her partner's barely hidden charity. "Thanks, Weiss."

"So… How long has this been going on?" Yang ask, her big sister mode activated.

"Two months," Blake says, rubbing her eyes and just wanting all this talking to end so she can go back to bed. Ruby stares at the girl, her mouth gaping in confusion about how her Faunus friend could know. "I was in the room when you two got together. Might want to work on that awareness, Captain."

"Why didn't you tell me?!" Yang asks her so-called partner.

"It's Ruby's business. I knew she'd tell us when she was ready."

Yang tries to think of anything to say; her friend was right, it was Ruby's choice when to tell them. More than anything, she's jealous someone else got to snuggle her adorable little sister. "Fine. We're talking about this tomorrow, Ruby," she grumbles, burying herself in blankets.

Ruby chuckles worriedly. _She's not actually mad at me, right? Oh god oh god oh god!_

"She's not."

The brunette looks up to see her partner talking to her. "She's not mad at you."

Ruby whispers a thank you. The heiress huffs at this before turning off the light, darkness covering the group again. Penny looks down at her tiny lover, her lips spread into a small grin before leaning forward to kiss the scythe-wielder's forehead.

"Goodnight, Girlfriend Ruby."

"Goodnight, Girlfriend Penny."

* * *

 **Chiyoxosakafan: This collab has been a lot of fun, and I hope you guys liked reading it.**

 **JDRIZZLE: I wanted a cute pile of snuggles, so I asked my friends if they wanted to collaborate, then this happened. No regrets. Hope you enjoy!  
**

 **yurImperial: We have a few more chapters planned, so stay tuned for more Nuts and Dolts + team cuddling!**


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